The lege: Pawlenty calls for meeting at "isolated cabin" to settle budget impasse

Mark Brunswick writes in today's Strib that Governor Tim Pawlenty has an idea for settling the legislature's budget stalemate: Take key House and Senate leaders deep into the woods and stay there in seclusion, with no hope of escape, until a deal is done. Republicans Steve Sviggum and Dick Day and DFLer Matt Entenza have agreed to join Pawlenty; DFLer Dean Johnson, sounding every bit like a man who had seen The Blair Witch Project with his kids, would only say through a spokesman that he was "considering the trip."

Extreme times call for extreme measures, but for their own sake the conferees should take this simple quiz before adjourning to a cabin in the middle of nowhere:

Late one night, you are hashing through the allocation of cigarette tax proceeds for the fourth time when a blood-curdling cry from somewhere outside the cabin pierces your deliberations, followed by a great commotion in which you hear trees splitting as if struck by lightning. What is the proper response?

A) "There's something out there--let's all fan out in the woods and see what it is!"

B) "I'm going to climb the hill behind that old burial ground to see if I can can get a cell phone signal to call for help."

C) "Let's at least unlock the door--if somebody out there is hurt, they'll be able to get inside even if we're asleep."

D) "Let's stay inside with the door locked and just keep working on the budget."